13 Feb MIT Open Documentary Lab at Sundance 2020

Chomsky Vs. Chomsky

MIT Open Documentary Lab (ODL) and the Co-Creation Studio were heavily represented at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Fellows, grad students, affiliated faculty, and ODL leadership descended upon Park City for the week to participate in panels, showcase work, and to observe the latest in immersive media. 

Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter, which premiered in the Sundance New Frontier section, was directed by ODL Fellow Sandra Rodriguez. ODL Alum Cindy Bishop served as the Back-End Lead, scoping the AI work and interoperability and contributing to the creative brainstorming. 

ODL Fellow Sandra Rodriguez on Sundance panel “AI, the Archive, and Creating Human Context on the New Frontier”

ODL Fellow Sandra Rodriguez also participated on the Sundance panel “AI, the Archive, and Creating Human Context on the New Frontier” about how digital artists are embracing the human archive in a work of deep fakes and virtual beings. 

ODL faculty affiliate Sasha Costanza-Chock participated in the Sundance panel “Is Our Future Equitable? A Conversation on Bias and AI.” The conversation took place at the Equality Lounge, and was organized by Female Quotient together with Brown Girls Doc Mafia. While at Sundance, Sasha also supported the Algorithmic Justice League and the cast and crew of Coded Bias to help secure broader distribution and develop impact strategy for the film. 

Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Sundance Alum and Fellow at ODL’s Co-Creation studio, participated on on the Sundance Panel “How Can Artists Reshape Politics?” about designing an artist-powered future. 

“How Can Artists Reshape Politics?” Sundance Panel featuring Assia Boundaoui and Violeta Ayala

Assia Boundaoui, who was a fellow at ODL’s Co-Creation Studio, was featured on a Sundance panel titled “Editing History” about how she is working on disrupting and re-creating narrative in redacting FBI records via her project “The Inverse Surveillance Project.” The panel was curated and moderated by Lauren Pabst of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Violeta Ayala, who participated in The Prison X / La Diablita Robot Workshop hosted by ODL’s Co-Creation Studio last year, was also featured on the “Editing History” Panel. 

ODL research assistants Andrea Kim and Samuel Mendez wrote articles about Sundance New Frontier for IndieWire through our Creating Critics program. Andrea Kim highlighted VR works that expertly blend story and technique to explore themes of embodiment in her article, and Samuel Mendez explored several projects that tackled climate change in his article.